About heroes portraits: I like how they make siblings look alike.
That sounds logical, but I am glad of it.
And so the 4th child is not half-orc.
And so Orcs are not really "neutral" in the plot.
All that really sound good to me.
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Wait a second! I'm not big-boned, I'm just fat!

I'm sure it's been stated somehwhere, but is Sandor the oldest of the children? From the pics he looks like a grown man whilst the others still have a sort of "pretty boy/girl" look to them.

On a similar note, they do look amazing! All four have a similar appearance (as siblings should despite different maternal backgrounds) yet are very suited for their respective factions. Hopefully the in-game models will have similar detail.
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"Life... Liberty... And The Pursuit Of All Who Threaten It." - United States Navy

Quote:Otherwise its nice, but because that man just made 5 childeren we only get 5 faction... I hope he makes more children soon...

This ironically amuzing remark is actually very true. I mean, IMHO the gameplay (Creatures, Factions, Heroes, Magic, Resources) should be of PRIMARY Priority, with Story and Lore being SECONDARY...I'm sure some people would disagree, but while Lore is of course important etc. it IS a computer GAME after all.

So, (I'm being abstract and exaggerative here, but to convey my point) if Ubisoft decided not to include ANY expansions (therefore no Sylvan, Academy, the amazing H3 Fortress) would anyone say: "...OK, if it's explained storywise..."

Not sure if I like it in terms of the portraits, but it makes sense that the oldest son would be the rightful heir to the Haven throne.

P.S. Is it wrong to hope that the delayed confirmation of stronghold elite could involve the addition of the Roc/Thunderbird given so vast of a negative response?
...one can only dream...
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"Life... Liberty... And The Pursuit Of All Who Threaten It." - United States Navy

Quote:Shadow of death was a brilliant addition. Had some of my favourite campaigns in the series, both well-written and challenging.

Totally agree, I mean we didn't get new creatures or towns, but at 11/15/19 (depending on how you want to take it) and 9 we didn't need any, and we did get those cool combo artefacts, more and better terrain overlays, and the new gateways, plus an absolutely epic 6 campaign story, and the 7th campaign makes a good prelude to the original game.

Quote:This ironically amuzing remark is actually very true. I mean, IMHO the gameplay (Creatures, Factions, Heroes, Magic, Resources) should be of PRIMARY Priority, with Story and Lore being SECONDARY...I'm sure some people would disagree, but while Lore is of course important etc. it IS a computer GAME after all.

Games where the story and the lore is only a secondary concern nearly by default are bad games.

What are games, if not a new medium to tell a story? Games are the next thing in art media. After sculpture, painting, books and movies, we, as a civilisation have moved to games as a new and exiting way to express art. Games have moved beyond mere toys. Yes, games are still in their infancy as being an art, but a beginning has to be made.
I strongly reccomend everyone to visit this link: Extra Credits
To watch the clips and learn. Games can be so much more, if people opened their eyes.

And comments like this, are exactly what we need if we, as lovers of games, never want the recognition we deserve.
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Iron from Ice.

I think he was trying to say that the lore can not be an excuse for lack of additions to the actual game, especially when it's already poorer than the previous ones in terms of faction variety and creatures. I certainly won't buy an expansion which does not re-introduce at least one of the old factions (not that I've made up my mind about the initial release too, but if it has some intrusive DRM, I'll certainly skip it, no matter how great it is).

Quote:Games where the story and the lore is only a secondary concern nearly by default are bad games.

Not necessarily, I have a few (Space Empires IV for example) where story and lore aren't even existent, yet the series isn't bad for a TBS, or at least that's my opinion. Bad gameplay will kill a game while a bad story will hurt the game only slightly because most people don't play the campaigns overmuch.

Gameplay, factions and creatures must always come before story and lore in a heroes game imo. Believe me when I say I love story in games, it's just that in heroes things are different. Never been too excited about the Heroes campaign because of it's limitations.
But the most perfect games all times are the ones that makes everything perfect, gameplay, graphics, story, feel and so on.

But I hardly think story and lore are the ONLY reason why there isn't more then 5 factions.

Quote:On the issue of randomness.

I know for a fact that BH are not planning to eliminate randomness as they know the series has a tradition on that However they do plan to decrease it when it comes to some things as xhane confirmed in the CoG interview. As you can guess inferno will be more chaotic than other factions something that will also reflect in their damage range - still from what I gather the gap won't be as extreme as it was before.

Awesome to know Even if I expected it with the current signs.
____________"You turn me on Jaba"
- Meroe

If there is a lore reason as to why so and so can't be a faction it is because the game developers wrote the story that way. It shouldn't be used as an excuse as it was a conscious decision so as to explain the absence of the faction or creature or whatever it is. I assure you they did not write the story and say "Oh darn, I suppose we can no longer include this faction." The story may not have required the faction, but there would be nothing to stop them from adding it, even if it played little role in the campaign.

Not that I mind them cutting factions. If they feel that they don't have the money or the time to add a faction, then that's the way things are. But I assure you, the reason for the absence of a faction will never be "story" or "lore".
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Quote:I never cared much for the stories of HOMM games, the creatures don't have a big part in the stories and most of the heroes aren't interesting in my eyes, if the creatures played more part in the storyline I would read the story, but this is just about some heroes, the creatures don't matter, nobody cares about how they join the army and why... thats why it sucks.

I love to collect armies and play though the battles of the campaign, but the story doesn't concern to me at all, I found homm3 and 5 story a bit interesting and I loved the screens in homm3 where you see many creatures between each level.

SO I rather see more factions and a worse story, than the other way around.

Nightterror, I agree with you entirely and je suis happy que quelque'un a le same opinion as me

Do you not agree, that a H3 game without a story (but a great number of factions and creatures, magic etc.) would still be more appealing and enjoyable than a H6 with, no matter how great a story, but a disgraceful amount of 5 factions? Of course the one with more CONTENT would be more appealing.

@War-overlord

Quote:Games where the story and the lore is only a secondary concern nearly by default are bad games.

I absolutely disagree with you and even if you state something like this, could you please give examples? Sure story is important, but nowhere near as important as creatures and factions. A book can provide you with a story, that's it's purpose; a game's purpose is to ENTERTAIN and Let YOU manipulate events and gameplay (this is what makes games different from books) YOU can decide how everything will function and you have control, in a book you follow an unchangeable scenario devised by an author. SO, I ask you, how enjpyable is a game, where there is hardly any creatures/characters one can control?

Besides, what stops a game from having CONTENT (Creatures etc.) AND a story? But, if I had to choose, creatures are an obvious choice for me, they are a lot more essential than countless textboxes (in previous HOMMs) or boring and repetitive cutscenes (as in H5).

A game is there to provide VISUALS, something a book cannot do...now to deprive or retard a game in it's strongest aspect is not a good idea.

Additionally, look at one of the biggest commercial successes ever - "Avatar", it gained worldwide acclaim for its VISUALS and BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS, CREATURES, NOT a story (which IMHO was actually very shallow, cliche, and unpolished). What would Avatar be without its visuals, or as a book? Nothing.

I think all Heroes games pretty much sucked story-wise. Sorry, I don't say that to offend people, it's just my oppinion. I think Heroes games worked as brilliant games, particularly Heroes 2 and 3, and in many cases I didn't even play the campaigns.

I did play the Heroes 3 campaigns, and particularly enjoyed the AB campaigns which for me were the best in the series - the storylines were actually pretty good, and the maps were challenging.

But I agree with team Nightterror here, storyline and characters are secondary in the Heroes games, even the specific choices of units can be exchanged without big problems (apart from the nostalgia), for me it's all about the gameplay.

Quote:Why almost all men in those pictures have BIG LIPS? That is for females. Big Lips makes men look femine, they should give the men in this game some proper lips and more manly looks! Especially the ones from Haven and Inferno.

Yes, 100 %, the men look horrible. The look like the scarecrow from Batman:____________
What will happen now?

They have already stated that they want more tactical gameplay and balanced factions that have very different playstyles (they made a reference to starcraft and their factions). It´s not easy to balance these things, and the more factions the harder it gets.

I for one think 5 is enough to start with, we all know there will be more factions in the expansions. Why have 8-10 factions where 30% of the creatures are copies of each other? Sharing abilities and stats but looking different.

Quote:They have already stated that they want more tactical gameplay and balanced factions that have very different playstyles (they made a reference to starcraft and their factions). It´s not easy to balance these things, and the more factions the harder it gets.

I for one think 5 is enough to start with, we all know there will be more factions in the expansions. Why have 8-10 factions where 30% of the creatures are copies of each other? Sharing abilities and stats but looking different.

You seem to know more than us. What are the abilities of the Haven creatures for example?